We Are Wakanda: Danai Gurira’s Okoye Is Focused On Her Mission

Is Okoye in charge of the girls? She is in charge of the girls.

Danai Gurira is ready to lead the world’s fiercest warriors as Okoye in Black Panther.

In preparation for the premiere of Black Panther on Friday, we’ve introduced you to Erik Killmonger and Nakia, now it’s time for you to get acquainted with Okoye!

Okoye is the one you’ve seen piloting a magnificent airship into Wakanda in Black Panther trailers and teasers. As she commands the skies, so to does she command the Dora Milaje on the ground. She is their general, and there is no one more fit for the role than her.

In the main Marvel comics Universe (aka Earth-616), the Dora Milaje had been inactive for a while before T’Challa’s reign. When he reactivated it, both Nakia and Okoye were natural choices for the job. However, only one of them could be in charge of the girls.

Although they are devoted Dora Milaje, they’re motivated by very different things. Nakia has feelings involved due to her romantic past with T’Challa, but Okoye is a woman on a mission.

As the lead member of the Dore Milaje, Okoye is one of T’Challa’s wives in waiting, but she’s not terribly interested in him. In fact, she’s got feelings for another member of the Dora Milaje, Ayo. (You’ll remember Ayo as the woman who had Black Widow shook in Captain America: Civil War.)

Sadly, we may not get a chance to see Okoye and Ayo’s relationship. According to Screen Crush, an earlier version of Black Panther featured a brief moment of flirtation between the two, but more recent cuts have deleted the scene.

Will the editors return that wink to their romance in the final version of Black Panther? We’ll have to find out starting Friday!